In the process of restoring a painting that
has been in Madrid’s Museo del Prado since 1819, conservators have discovered a
near-exact copy of the famous portrait hidden beneath a black coat of
overpaint. While there are many such copies in circulation, the Prado’s version
is unique in that it was painted in Leonardo da Vinci’s studio by one of the
master painter’s favourite pupils, and at the same time as the original.
Standing in front of the work a day after its unveiling in Madrid, I could not
help but wonder whether the copy surpasses the original: the youthful beauty
and vigour of da Vinci’s most famous model shines through in a way that is
obscured beneath the cracked varnish of the Louvre’s more famous version. The
Prado’s Mona Lisa was reunited with the original in the Louvre on 13 March, and
will return to Madrid later in 2012.

Anthony
Ham is the author of Lonely Planet’s Madrid and Spain guides. This article was published in partnership
with Lonely
Planet Magazine.